Local representatives and business leaders from Northern Ireland’s leading tech companies have spoken of the importance of overcoming challenges to encourage more females to join the thriving tech sector and pursue senior leadership positions in business.
The meeting was part of a roundtable discussion event convened in the historic setting of Custom House Belfast and chaired by Barbara McKiernan, Managing Director of VANRATH. With the agenda shining a spotlight on promoting women in tech and addressing gender imbalance, further highlights also included the importance of self-promotion, visibility, and mentorship. There was also a clear agreement on the need to recognise individual achievements and offer employees meaningful ways to showcase their skills.
After the introductions were completed, some of the most experienced and senior leaders in tech in Northern Ireland were ready to collaborate and share some of their personal insights and practical solutions to overcoming these challenges, particularly around attracting women to technical roles and making leadership pathways for women more accessible.
Barbara set the tone observing that sometimes in leadership “the higher up you go, the lonelier it gets, and the less that you can share with your peers”, making it a fitting that this meeting would focus on sharing some of those challenges along with celebrating successes.
As with many of the issues involved with addressing gender parity, it was identified that the problem can often start right at the beginning of the hiring process. Optics are important, a scarcity or lack of women featured in the corporate website or use of gendered language within job advertisements can create a perception of a lack of accessibility. While some progress has been made in recent years on attracting more females into software development and technical roles the numbers remain low at just 15 per cent and with much work to be done to alleviate this disparity.
Suzi Stewart, Global Talent attraction Manager at Kainos, has during her tenure overseen the company’s growth from 500 employees in four countries to a current headcount of over 3000 across 30 global locations. The Kainos solution to conveying the company culture is a ‘people-first’ approach in their employer branding which embraces the motto: ‘Our people tell our story’, with all advertising campaigns featuring actual Kainos employees. Over the past decade, Suzi has experienced first-hand how tech companies in Northern Ireland have often led the way in embracing new ways of working and enhancing company culture. From remote or hybrid working and adoption of EDI policies, other companies have been swift to follow.
One solution adopted by Kainos to address the gender imbalance issue is the use of a gender decoder when writing job adverts which can eliminate masculine wording, particularly when it comes to the job requirements. As Suzi points out, it is well known that many women will not apply for a role unless they tick all the boxes, whilst their male counterparts would be inclined to apply regardless. The Kainos culture embraces learning development that can be done once a successful candidate is fully onboarded within the company despite potentially not meeting 100 per cent of the job specifications. This is an important message the company instils.
Suzi explains: “Ultimately it is a confidence issue when women only apply for roles where they satisfy 100 per cent of the criteria - while that drops to just 60 per cent for men.”
Indeed, it is highlighted that companies with an inclusive company culture drive gender balance organically by ensuring to provide both opportunities and pathways for females to advance within the business. Nicola Maloney, Managing Director Product Management at Options IT accredits their own 50/50 split over the last five years to creating the optimum environment to attract and retain females within the business.
Nicola herself is a case in point with regards to accessible pathways into senior leadership within a company that also boosts female directors in both the CTO and CFO roles.
Nicola explains: “The opportunities for global travel has an appeal in itself for many applicants, however it is the company culture that places an emphasis on personality and attitude reinforcing the fact that you don’t need to come from a specific background to thrive within the business.
"There is a deliberate policy of not recruiting senior engineers and promoting from within. New employees often begin their careers as technical support engineers and then are provided with the requisite business skills and technical training. For those with a ‘get up and go attitude’ they will be provided with the autonomy to find their way and succeed within the business.”
The freedom to wear different hats, make significant contributions and impact the business rather than be left in a silo is another welcome quality of the Options company culture. Nicola encourages the team to be proactive, adding: “If you see a problem and you want to fix it, please go ahead and do it and come to me when you have the solution, don’t just come to me with a problem. I feel having this level of freedom and autonomy embedded within the company culture really does build trust and inclusiveness.”
Getting ‘out of your lane’ and ‘pushing against your comfort zone’ are recurring themes throughout the roundtable discussion, with it accepted that whilst many women might unfortunately lack internal support structures in place to develop their careers in the workplace, there are a number of external programmes now in place for those who wish to change careers completely which might not have been accessible or readily available in the past. Women in Business NI is one such resource which has proved to be an invaluable source of information and networking support.
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Faye Thomas of Vyta, a leading provider of secure IT Asset Disposition and Lifecycle Management solutions, emphasises the importance of having the correct internal support systems and training to help elevate women as they progress through the business. “Despite offers of reduced hours, flexible contracts and part-time working, it can still be difficult to recruit females into a production environment,” she says.
Catriona McCaffrey, a Senior Data Engineer at Cloudsmith, is a prime example of taking matters into her own hands, benefitting from the NI SkillUp initiative to receive a fully funded place at Queen’s University Belfast to study an MSC in Artificial Intelligence. Catriona left behind a career as an English teacher to study a post graduate certificate in Software Engineering.
While inclusive hiring and flexible roles can help attract more women into the business locally, there still remains a cultural challenge, particularly when many of the tech companies in NI also have offices spread geographically across the globe. Karen McGuigan, Operational Lead at SpiderRock and Charlene Hughs, Director of Programme Management at Xirgo Technologies agree. “There is still a lack of females applying for technical roles and it is felt that most women are attracted to more product management and customer facing roles,” Karen comments.
In order to continue breaking down barriers, it is felt that effective one-on-one meetings, management training, and a focus on creating a positive work environment will help contribute to a stronger company culture.
Kay Gemmert, Delivery Manager at Cloudsmith and Louise McAteer, Site Lead at ASOS, both recognise the importance of the soft skills that women bring into leadership roles.
“Leading with empathy is not a weakness but actually a source of strength. Indeed, nurturing talent and displaying empathy have huge positive implications for staff retention.
“It is vital that we continue to elevate successful female leaders in the public domain as high profile role models ultimately inspire younger females in the industry as well as encourage female pupils to adopt STEM subjects,” encourages Kay.
Louise agrees, adding: “The need for early intervention in schools to inspire interest in tech is critical and ambassadorial initiatives like SistersIN and skills academies are hugely beneficial to engaging young girls and career changers.”
Unfortunately promoting internships and apprenticeships within tech companies can sometimes be met with resistance, particularly if there are vested interests involved in pushing for University places after A-Levels.
Nevertheless, there is still work to be done in schools in order to counter false perceptions around career options. This requires educating teachers and parents alike to informing younger females that there are huge opportunities and rewarding careers within the tech sector. Against a background of how the advent of AI will impact future jobs this had never been more relevant.
From as young as primary school age, not enough young girls are encouraged to explore coding and STEM subjects. This trend continues, with women also often channelled towards customer facing roles to deploy softer skills. The reality is that most tech companies have a much more collaborative approach to coding in the modern era and neuro diversity is an essential requirement for software engineering and development. By whatever means possible, all efforts should be focused on what working in tech is truly like - accessible, interesting, and inclusive.
“There are so many successful examples of female role models - demonstrating the creative, teamwork nature of working in tech,” Barbara explains.
Internal leadership training and effective mentorship programmes go a long way to addressing some of the barriers to females in leadership roles. Suzi is particularly quick to highlight how fortunate she was at Kainos to have two strong female leaders to mentor her in the shape of CTO Aislinn McBride, and Commercial Sector Director Samantha McBride, while Suzi in turn also mentors junior colleagues. Having a formal mentorship programme within the company which allows people to choose and directly approach their preferred mentors is a progressive and positive step, the female representatives agree.
Notwithstanding this, having male advocates within the business at senior level is equally important. Effective mentors should represent diverse leadership styles and backgrounds and focus on both technical and soft skills.
It is agreed amongst the representatives present that companies with formal programmes and feedback loops in place will identify potential cultural issues early on and positively improve employee retention. “The key is creating a supportive environment that helps women develop confidence, navigate career challenges, and see multiple pathways to leadership.
“By implementing these strategies, tech companies can foster a more inclusive and diverse industry, paving the way for future generations of female leaders,” Barbara explains.
On a personal level, defining success can mean many different things. Traditionally success would have been defined in terms of status, moving up the company hierarchy and into a senior role. Success today might look different for senior female leaders, from the perspective of countering male dominance and having the ability to educate and elevate people within the organisation. Embracing neurodiversity in terms of enabling the quiet person in the corner who has talents and skills that can get drowned out in an aggressive environment to reach their potential is an achievement that does not always receive the recognition it deserves. Giving back was a recurring theme and helping support colleagues achieve their goals is also felt as a mark of success.
“For the senior female leaders in the room, the sense of being successful can take many shapes beyond the job title and salary and goes to the very heart of company culture and working in a healthy supportive environment,” Faye observes.
Linda Robb, Head of Data Operations and Site Lead for Belfast Fintech 9Fin had previously had a successful career in Corporate Law before moving into the tech sector.
Moving away from the more “rigid” working environment of a law firm to having the freedom to organise her own calendar and choose when she wanted to go on holiday is a clear benefit to working in tech. Now the focus has shifted, Linda explains: “Success today is now defined by enabling my employees to work in an environment far removed from the one I experienced at the beginning of my career. I want to create an environment where people enjoy coming into work and building friendships with colleagues.”
Imposter syndrome often plays a part, with many of the women in attendance reporting that at earlier stages of their careers they were at times fearful of “not being good enough.”
Kay comments: “Success is now measured in the knowledge that you have built a great team. There is confidence and trust that the business will continue to thrive in your absence. It’s about enabling individuals and giving them the correct environment to flourish.”
READ MORE: Barbara McKiernan, Managing Director of VANRATH: How to avoid a bad hire
Louise and Charlene agree that by supporting employees through challenging times and understanding the positive impact you have made on their careers and personal lives, this is the true mark of success for most of the female leaders. “This is also the true mark of great leadership,” Charlene explains.
Reflecting on the discussion, Barbara shared that for her, success is no longer defined by material achievements, but by the freedom to be your authentic self.
“It’s vital to lead with empathy and stay true to who you are,” she said. “When you invest in your people, giving them the flexibility and support they need, it shows you genuinely care, both professionally and personally.”
Barbara concludes: “Success often rests on the individual, but when you equip people to bring their whole selves to work, the return is powerful. The more you invest in your team, the more they give back - and that’s how you retain top talent. For me, seeing that trust take root and watching people grow alongside the business is a real source of pride.”
Sync NI's Summer 2025 magazine celebrates women in tech across Ireland as we continue to encourage more women to enter the thriving sector and address the current gender imbalance. Read the Summer 2025 Sync NI Magazine online for free here.
